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Pork and Macaroni Pudding

A baked pudding of cooked pork, macaroni, cabbage, breadcrumbs, and egg yolks, served with a butter‑milk sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pork and Macaroni Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the macaroni in salted water until tender.

  2. Butter a basin and line the inside thickly with macaroni.

Fill and steam

  1. Mix the breadcrumbs, 1½ oz. butter, pepper, salt, nutmeg, boiled and chopped cabbage, and beaten egg yolks.

  2. Fill the mold with the mixture and cover with the remaining macaroni.

  3. If not full, fill up with breadcrumbs.

  4. Tie a buttered and floured cloth over the top.

  5. Steam for 1½ hours.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Make a flavored butter sauce with the milk, ½ oz. butter, 2 teaspoons flour, pepper, and salt.

  2. Turn out the pudding and serve with the sauce poured over.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the thick lining and cover, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable structure.
Egg yolks
Bind the breadcrumb and cabbage filling as they set during steaming.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and add body to the filling, keeping it tender rather than wet.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to both the filling and the sauce.
Milk
Forms the base of the sauce, with flour thickening it into a smooth coating.
Cabbage
Adds moisture and a mild, savory vegetable flavor to the filling.

The step that matters

Tie a buttered and floured cloth over the top. The cloth must be snug so steam condenses on the pudding rather than escaping, and the floured surface helps keep the cloth from sticking. A loose cover lets the pudding dry out or become soggy during the long steam.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, butter, egg, milk, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, butter, egg, milk, pepper, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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